Celebrating World Oceans Day

Most of the Earth is covered by the ocean. Without this salty
expanse, our planet as we know it couldn’t exist. Oceans generate most of the
oxygen we breathe. They help feed us. They even regulate our climate.

On World Oceans Day, it’s time to celebrate, and sustain, this
indispensable body of water.

“World Oceans Day is the one day that we’ve set aside each
year to celebrate everything about the oceans and what we can do to preserve
this one globally connected layer of salt water that is the dominant geographic
feature of our planet,” said Dr. Alistair Dove, director of research and
conservation at Georgia Aquarium.

It’s a day to clean up trash — especially plastic
— that could enter the ocean, where it wreaks all manner of havoc on
marine life. For instance, it’s not unusual for marine mammals to end up with
plastic in their stomachs. Single-use plastic bags blow away from landfills and
often end up in the ocean, where they can be mistaken for jellies by animals
like sea turtles.

“The ocean’s trying to tell us that there is a problem here
and that we need to change our consumer practices,” said Dove.

Individual consumers can help trigger a sea change just
by tweaking their shopping habits.

“It’s easy to get dismayed by the size of the problems
facing the ocean and think that nothing I as an individual can do can really
make a difference, but it’s not true,” said Dove. Small, easy, changes — made
by enough people in the world — can have a huge impact on the health of the
ocean.

Watch the video to learn more about how you can take action
to protect our ocean and help keep debris out of the sea.